Good and bad news from the Archives nationales, Paris

In my post for 18 March I mentioned that the records for the United Nations International Refugee Organisation (IRO) have been transferred to the French national archives, the Archives nationales in Paris (see The UNHCR Archives and Records Section responds). The Archives nationales in Paris has confirmed that there are records, however, the news is a mixed blessing as neither the records or the finding aids are available online.

This is the text of the reply from the Archives nationales, Paris - Service de la Recherche a écrit :

Dear Mr. N ... ,
In response to your e-mail of April 12th, I inform you that the Archives nationales-site de Paris [does] keep in AJ 43 (O.I.R.) records concerning camps for refugees in Italy (Bari and Bagnoli).
-AJ/43/140 : in particular, a study by J. Barth, historian, about Bagnoli's camp, and refugees in Trieste and Veneto region ;
-AJ/43/1036 : in particular, people arrested by [the] Italian police displaced to the transit camp in Bari, January 1948 ;
-AJ/43/1040 : competitive sport in Bagnoli's camp, September 1950.

Unfortunately, neither the finding aid for AJ 43, nor the records are available on line.

Yours sincerely.
Thierry Pin

In French the IRO is known as the Organisation Internationale pour les Rėfugiės (OIR).

So, in fact, to make any headway on this path I will have to go to Paris in person! I can't say I am much surprised. And I am uncertain from Mr. Pin's reply that they have the records I need. The question is not going, that's easy, but the issue is to make the visit worthwhile from the point of view of research - if I forget something later it's not as if I can just drop in casually again the week after I come home. In conclusion, Constant Reader, I am quickly finding out that there is only so much one can do through the Internet from the other side of the world.

The remains of the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst

This afternoon I drove out to the the site of the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst. This was my father's first place of residence in Australia in late 1949 and for some of 1950. The Australian army also had a camp at the same location from 1940 to 1947. The migrant camp as I mentioned in an earlier post is long gone (it closed in 1952) and the place is now occupied by the Bathurst Sheep and Cattle Drome (i.e. aerodrome) and other than a memorial by the entry road there was nothing above ground I could see. The above photo shows a general view of the Drome from the entry road (click on the image to enlarge).

The site is surrounded by farming land in all directions, with the town of Bathurst 8 kms to the north west, and in that regard the basic look is not much different from the time the camps (Immigration and Army) were here.

In a future post I will have more to say, once I finish, my reading and current research, that is!

Above, a relic, possibly a wool dray (used to transport bales of raw wool until the 1930's) with an iron/steel plow? dumped on top.

The UNHCR Archives and Records Section responds

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has responded to my latest email regarding the location, and access to the records of United Nations International Refugee Organisation (IRO). In the latest attempt I directed my inquiry to the Archives section of the UNHCR, rather than to the organisation in general, and the Archives section replied within 12 hours! The answer:

Dear Peter N ...,

The records of the International Refugee Organization (IRO) were placed in the Archives Nationales de France in Paris when the agency closed in 1951 (Fonds AJ 43). More information may be found by addressing a request to the Archives Nationales, 60 rue des Francs-Bourgeois, 75141 Paris, FRANCE http://www.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/chan/

Kind regards

Montserrat Canela,

Senior Archivist

UNHCR Records and Archives Section

94, rue de Montbrilland

1202 Geneva, Switzerland"

The answer shows that logic does not always apply when dealing with organisations, I had the thought that my previous emails would be sent on to the appropriate officer in UNHCR; I was wrong. My general inquiries to the UNHCR resulted in no replies, whereas, my question sent specifically to their archives people merited an answer; fit your question to a particular part of the target organisation and you are more likely to get an answer! The other piece of logic that did not work was the idea that the UNHCR would inherit and retain the files of its predecessor organisation, the IRO.

Now for a short (Internet) trip to Paris.

Lost in the records labyrinth

For the last two weeks, during the spare hour here and there I have been continuing my search for my dad by following the paper trail. Being a librarian and priding myself on my search and re-search skills I had thought that the road would be tough but that I would find some breadcrumbs of information. Well Constant Reader, pride goeth before a fall; other than my initial finds l have located nothing new. Two paths have been followed, the National Archives of Australia and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and I have found many records at the NAA and have had nothing from the UNHCR (in fact the UNHCR does not reply to my emails even to tell me that they can't help me).

At the NAA there is a bewildering number of records of current and former Commonwealth agencies that could have or would have assisted my father, at last count I found four major bodies (e.g Department of Immigration, Central Office) and fifteen minor bodies on the virtual paths, tracks and secondary roads as represented by the NAA database. In truth I don't what I am doing and don't know enough about how a displaced person like my father progressed through the system, or anything about the agencies or their records. He may well appear in the records, however, it is likely as a name within a record and not as the subject of the record, in this manner he appears in the nominal roll of the ship Goya (see Voyage of the Goya, September-October, 1949 in this blog). As such he will not appear in the record indexes. Knowing the administrative process would help as it would lead me to some of the right doors to knock on (in a virtual sense).

The local public library, in its local history collection has some general information about the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst which will help me visualise the place my father lived in when I visit the site. The file told me that other than a memorial not much is left. My fear is that not much is left of my father in the records of the various government agencies (national and international) and he may be impossible to track. Dear Constant Reader you are no doubt thinking I should have talked to him while he was with us, but he often didn't want to talk about the past or simply said he did not remember, and I didn't want to press or pester him, and that, I suspect is a common problem in researching family history. And there is my mother, as a source of information about my father. None the less I will solider on, hopeful that if I keep at this I will eventually find information about him.


Images: Dad by the sea in Italy, and with a group (fellow displaced persons/immigrants?), dated 23/26 June, 1949.

The hard life of the ship Goya

The Goya had a vital part in my dad's story as the ship he journeyed to Australia in. Since identifying her and her role in my family history I wanted to know more about the ship, and her fate, in particular I wanted to locate a photograph. I searched high and low on the Internet, hoping to find something quickly, I did find some scraps of information and gleaned a few facts (e.g. at the time of my father's voyage the Goya was Norwegian owned and flagged), however, no photograph anywhere. Goya has a Wikipedia article, but alas, no picture. Much frustration, no satisfaction. I refined my search and googled again, finding nothing of use I gave up for the night ... fade to black.

A few days later, and at a holiday-time loose end, I tried again, this time reworking my search strategy and using Google's advanced search (forgot to do that first time around): better result, fewer hits, and more to the point. This led to a maritime history site, Ahoy-Mac's web log, and that led to a quick email to the site's author; his reply directing me to Australian migrant ships 1946-1977 by Peter Plowman. This I have done and was rewarded with a picture of the Goya (see below) and some additional information (see Plowman, 2006, page 36 if you are interested).


And her fate? Reading through Peter Plowman's book shows me that the Goya was a typical merchant/passenger ship -- not much glamour and a hard, hard life. The vessel started life in 1938 as the German cargo ship Kamerun; performed war service with the German navy until taken as spoils of war and allocated to the Norwegians; six changes of name; several owners; a migrant ship for only part of her life. Finally, in 1969, named Melina she was sold for the last time and was broken up for scrap at Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It appears that Goya's most famous voyage was her March-May 1951 journey to New Zealand. The 50th anniversary of that event was marked, in September 2001, by a celebratory dinner (see the New Zealand Government Internet site, beehive.govt.nz for details).

A last note, the Goya I discuss here is not to be confused with another German ship named Goya, which was sank with great loss of life by the Soviet navy in 1945.

The book's details: Australian migrant ships 1946-1977 / by Peter Plowman. Dural, N.S.W. : Rosenberg, 2006; ISBN: 9781 8770 5840 0; price $AUD 29.95.

Photographs rediscovered: Olympic Games, Melbourne, 1956

In my post for last Saturday (10 January) I mentioned discovering, among a box of photographs, two pictures of the opening or closing ceremonies at the 16th Olympic Games in Melbourne (taken either on 22 November or 8 December, 1956). Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing for certain that my father was the photographer, however, as I mentioned in the earlier post I have a vague childhood memory of him telling me once that he did go to the games.

The first picture shows the South African team, while the second shows another team passing in front of a police or military marching band; in the second shot the clock on the stand opposite gives the time as 3:55 pm. The two shots partially overlap indicating that they were taken from the same position in the stadium.

The original black and white pictures are 3 x 5 inches (7.7 x 12.7 cm) in size and are un-inscribed; click on the images to see enlarged versions.

Photographs rediscovered

While attempting to find some photographs for my mother I found a small box containing around 200 photos (and two postcards) of my dad and others, taken between about 1947 and the mid 1960's. There were also a few photographs taken from the early 1900's through to the 1970's of people, who must be Serbian relatives; many of earliest prints in this group are badly damaged. All the photographs are interesting, the ones in Greece are the first definite visual evidence of his time in Greece and appear to show him in the Greek army. Most of these are inscribed in Serbian and have dates; several have hand stamps with Greek text in red or blue ink.

Other photographs in the box where taken in Italy, and in Australia (Cooma and Lithgow?, New South Wales; Adelaide, South Australia). Some may have been shot in the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst. One of the most amazing finds is two photos of what may be the opening or closing ceremonies of the 1956 summer Olympiad in Melbourne. One of these shows the march past of the South African team. I have a very faint memory of my dad telling me that he did go to the Olympics.

Constant Reader its great to have re-discovered the photographs. Over time its my intention to scan all of the photos and find someone to translate the inscriptions. The selection of two photographs presented here are typical of the pre-Australian images. The first illustrated is of dad between two colleagues in what may be Greek army uniform, the photo is inscribed in Serbian and dated 10-II-47 (i.e. 10 February, 1947); the second is again of dad and a friend posing with a studio prop (dad is at the controls of the "plane"), inscribed and dated 10-IV-47 (i.e. 10 April 47).

Voyage of the Goya, September-October, 1949

A belated reading yesterday of the NAA's series notes for Series A11760 provided more information and clarification. The series notes on the NAA database told me that the ship my father traveled to Australia on was the S.S. Goya, departing Naples, Italy on 25/9/1949 and arriving Sydney, 23/10/1949. The note informs that the file for this voyage of the Goya, including the list of passengers is Department of Immigration file A434, 49/3/21770. Further, that file is accessible on the NAA database (see above images, to enlarge click on the image); my dad's name appears on p. 29 of the passenger list as passenger 848 (now I understand what "848" on his file means).

The NAA series note for A11760 states in part:

"The ship's nominal roll is a list of all the passengers that were on board when the ship sailed from its port of departure. (The nominal roll for this voyage of the Goya is on file A434, 1949/3/21770). Each passenger is given a nominal roll number and these numbers have been used as the item control symbols for this series.

There were 890 Displaced Persons on board the Goya when it left Naples on 25 September 1949.

The Goya arrived in Sydney on 23 October 1949.

The passengers disembarked and were transported by train to the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst."

The note partially answers a question I have, "What happened when he arrived and where did he go?" The answer appears to be the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst.

Images: © Commonwealth of Australia, 2004, 2008.

First fruits: NAA comes through

A staff member of National Archives of Australia emailed me yesterday to tell me that a digital copy of my father's immigration file is now accessible.

As mentioned in an earlier post the file title indicated that it contained migrant selection documents, well that is exactly we have, a range of administrative paperwork:

• Processing Centre index card (1 card, 2 sides) (see the images above: for an enlargement click on the image);
• I.R.O. Resettlement Registration form (4 pages);
• I.R.O. Resettlement Medical Examination form (1 sheet, folded into 4 pages); and,
• I.R.O. Emigration X-Ray card (1 card, 2 sides; chest x-ray attached).
  

The file was created and maintained by the Commonwealth Department of Immigration, Central Office as file A11760/1. All in all the file contains 12 pages and holds the assessments carried out to verify my dad's suitability (background and medical) for emigration to Australia. The file is quite dry stuff, however, a first examination did turn up some interesting crumbs of information. Once I digest its contents I will discuss it in a future post (yes, Constant Reader, its really a ploy to keep you tuned in for future installments). A couple of things I can say immediately, the alteration of his surname occurred prior to his arrival in Australia, and not here as family lore has it; the documents also allow me to construct a rough list of dates and places and occupations for my dad back to 1937. There is not much detail but there are leads to follow.

The file's series notes (i.e. series A11760) on the NAA database provide additional useful information, namely details such as the ship's name, S.S Goya. The moral here is read the series notes!

A major line of inquiry will be with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (www.unhcr.org). The UNHCR is the successor body for the UN International Refugee Organization (IRO) with the IRO being wound up on 31 December, 1950 and the UNHCR commencing operations on 1 January, 1951. Its a safe bet that the UNHCR may have inherited the IRO archives or know where they are. If the archives exist and are accessable I can track dad before he came to the attention of the Australian authorities.

The IRO was established in July 1947 as a non-permanent body of the UN and was intended to assist the millions of refugees like my dad in the post war period; due to difficulties encountered with the Soviet government the IRO worked only in the areas occupied by the western armies.

The file is viewable as a digital copy at the NAA web site (www.naa.gov.au)

Images: © Commonwealth of Australia, 2008.

Being processed

The $16.50 has been sent (by credit card) and my request for a digital copy of my Dad's file is being processed, according to my online NAA order account. Imagine my surprise tonight when I checked my mail box and found a white envelope from the National Archives, "they've sent photocopies!", I said and opened the thing right there in my drive way. As I was ripping it open a stray thought occurred, "the envelope's not very big or fat, what if the file only had one page in it?"

Nothing of the sort, just an efficient federal public servant sending me a form letter (explaining the NAA's services), a payment advice form and some advice as to the costs involved with the various access options. I did glean from that I may have to wait 20 working days for my digital copies to appear and that the NAA will email when they are available. Disappointment.

First success at the NAA

This evening I decided to re-visit the National Archives of Australia web (www.naa.gov.au) to see if any decision was reached about access to the immigration file on my father held there. A few weeks after his death I took an educated guess that Customs or Immigration may have created a file on him and I was right.

Using the Name search at the NAA website I found a listing for a file created by the Department of Immigration, Central Office in September 1949. At the time of my first enquiry the file was marked "Not yet examined", meaning it had not been assessed for release. So I emailed asking for access and checked tonight to find the file is now marked "Open" and that a decision on the file's status was made on "27 Nov 2008". Bureaucracy does not always move slowly.

And the name of the file: "Migrant Selection Documents for Displaced Persons who travelled to Australia per Goya departing Naples 25 September 1949". The listing (and name on the file) for Dad gives the Serbian spelling of his name and the anglicised version. Now I just need to order a copy of the file; apparently I can do this online and view a digital copy of the file (for $16.50) or a photocopy can be sent for $25.00. I think I'll go digital as the wait for the post would kill me.

Finding the 3rd Man

To you out there in the Blog-world, greetings,

I am about to look for my dad (above, Dad, aged 24 or 25, ca. 1948 from his UN IRO control book).

If you know me (and its very likely you don't) you will say that's strange or stupid as he died on 28 October and he lived in Australia for 59 of his 85 years. Yes, you're right, but it is the years before 1962 that are a big black hole; the years before he met and married my mum. There are some fragments, some scraps he passed on; things he told mum and a few things to me, much, however, he never talked about - ever. That's quite a contrast to my mum's family: I know lots, where they came from, who they are, there are photos going back four (or five) generations, et cetera.

So I am going to look for my dad and doing what I do for a living provides some clues as to where to start the search. I have some names and the name of place he was born in. He's gone and there is no one who I know who knew him before 1962; no one before he arrived here in 1949; but maybe I can follow the record trail and that may lead to other information (and maybe, if I am very lucky, people).